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Western or Greek Thrace is the part of Thrace located between the rivers Nestos (Bulgarian Mesta) and Evros (Bulgarian Maritsa, Turkish Meriç) in northeastern Greece. The eastern part of Thrace, east of the river Evros is the European part of Turkey, and the area to the north, in Bulgaria, is referred to as Northern Thrace. Western Thrace is divided into the three prefectures of Xanthi, Rodhopi and Evros, which together with the two East Macedonian prefectures of Drama and Kavala form the Periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace. Furthermore, the prefectural authorities of Drama, Kavala and Xanthi have been combined into a single administrative unit in recent years, as have those of Rodhopi and Evros.
Area - Demographics
The approximate area of Western Thrace is 8,200 km² with a population of 368,993 (2005 est.). Of this, around one third (approx. 120,000) are Muslims who are the only officially recognised minority in Greece. This Muslim Minority includes the Pomaks who mainly inhabit the mountainous parts of the region and Turks. Since 1990 and the end of the cold war Western Thrace (just as the rest of Greece) has seen an influx of both legal and illegal economic immigrants (most of them being Albanians) seeking work mainly in the urban areas of the region. Western Thrace is bordered by Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the east, the Aegean Sea to the south and the prefectures of Drama and Kavala to the west. Komotiní is the largest city, with a population of 63,774 (2001 census).
History
Before the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, Western Thrace had a mixed population of Turks and Bulgarians, with a strong Greek element in the cities and the Aegean Sea littoral. A smaller number of Pomaks, Jews, Armenians and Roma also lived in the region.
During the First Balkan War, the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro) fought against the Ottoman Empire and annexed most of its European territory, including Thrace. The victors quickly fell into dispute on how to divide the newly conquered lands, resulting in the Second Balkan War. In August 1913 Bulgaria was defeated, but gained Western Thrace under the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest.
In the following years, the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire) (with which Bulgaria had sided) lost World War I and as a result Western Thrace was given to Greece (which had sided with the Entente) (mainly the United Kingdom, France, Russian Empire) under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly.
Throughout the Balkan Wars and World War One, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey each forced respective minority populations in the entire Thrace region out of areas they controlled. A large population of Greeks in Eastern Thrace as well as coastal and southern Bulgaria was expelled south and west into Western Thrace. Concurrently a large population of Bulgarians was forced from the region into Bulgaria by Greek and Turkish actions. Turkish populations in the area were also targeted by Bulgarian and Greek forces and pushed eastward. As part of the Treaty of Neuilly, and subsequent agreements, the status of Greek populations which had been expelled from Bulgaria to Western Thrace, as well as Bulgarians expelled from Greece during the Balkan wars, and Turkish populations expelled by Bulgaria and visa versa, during the Balkan Wars were legitimized. This was followed by a further population exchange which radically changed the demographics of the region toward ethnic increased ethnic homogenization within the territories each respective country ultimately was awarded. This was followed by the large scale Greek-Turkish population exchanges of 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne), which finalized the reversal of Western and Eastern Thrace region's pre-Balkan war demography. The treaty granted the status of a minority to the Muslims in Western Thrace, in exchange for a similar status for the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul and the Aegean islands of Imbros and Tenedos.
When Bulgaria invaded Western Thrace as part of the Axis Powers during World War Two it further changed the demographics by arresting and deporting the region's Jewish population to death camps administered by Germany.
Politics
The Muslim minority of Western Thrace has been a source of diplomatic tension between Greece and Turkey. Turkey and the Human Rights Watch consider the whole of the Muslim minority as Turkish minority based on the human right that one can freely choose the own identity. In fact, the whole minority feels Turkish and speaks Turkish as mother language. Greece, on the other hand, considers the whole minority being Greek citizens and a recognized religious minority under Greece's internatrional obligations (Treaty of Lausanne) - anything further is no concern of the state.
In fact, there are ethnic differences. The estimated numbers of the ethnic groups are given in a document of the Greek Consulate Berlin as follows:
- total number: 120.000
- percentage of Turks: 50%
- percentage of Pomacs: 35%
- percentage of Muslim-Romanies: 15%
Such documents like the said paper of the Greek Consulate Berlin have indeed no effect on the minority politics of Greece concerning the concession of any ethnic identity to the Moslem minority and they primarily serve as information publications about Greece to the world.
Economy
The economy of Western Thrace in recent years has become less dependent on agriculture. A number of Greek-owned high-tech industries belonging to the telecommunications industry have settled in the area. The Via Egnatia motorway (which is planned to be completed by 2008) which will pass through Western Thrace, is a promise for further development of the region. Tourism is slowly becoming more and more important as the Aegean coast of Western Thrace boasts quite a few beautiful beaches. Additionally, there is the potential for winter tourism activities in the Rhodopi mountains, the natural border with Bulgaria which are covered by dense forest.
Miscellaneous
- Abdera, an ancient Greek coastal town in the prefecture of Xanthi is the birth place of the Greek philosophers Democritus, considered by some the father of the atomic theory, and Protagoras, who is credited with having invented the role of the professional sophist or teacher of "virtue".
- Western Thrace and in particular the Rhodope mountains, its northern mountainous part, is home to one of the two surviving brown bear (species Ursus arctos) populations in Greece (the other is in the Pindus mountains, in central Greece).
- The Greek-Turkish border is a major entering point of illegal immigrants from Asia (Kurds, Afghans, Pakistanis) trying to enter Europe.
See also
External links
"Western Thrace"